Forterra agreement to Purchase back 9 of Wayne Golf Course

OneBothell Celebrates Forterra Agreement To Purchase Wayne Golf Course Back 9 And Begins Work To Support Purchase

Reprinted from "Kirkland Views", by Rob Butcher

OneBothell, run entirely by Washington residents and volunteers, is pleased that its partnership with Forterra has resulted in an agreement giving the community a chance to preserve the Back 9 of the Wayne Golf Course.
“This is huge progress,” said James McNeal, President of OneBothell. “The Back 9 has always been the biggest prize for the community―both for recreation, as an extension of Blyth Park, and its conservational value for the recovery of endangered species in the state of Washington.”  Read More>>


OneBothell’s leaders view this as a strong message of support from Mayor Joshua Freed. “We are genuinely pleased with Mayor Freed’s willingness to work with OneBothell and Forterra to save this environmentally valuable land for the citizens of the area,” said Jesse Sears, a founder of OneBothell. “Earlier in the year, we learned the Back 9 of the historic golf course had been sold to developers headed by the mayor. We had to believe that once he learned about the significance of this property he’d work with us to preserve the land for the community”. 

This agreement is only the beginning.  Forterra must complete its due diligence, including an appraisal to confirm the value of the Back 9.  Forterra and OneBothell have just 10 weeks to recruit financial guarantors of the line of credit to support the purchase.  “This is an expensive property. We need generous leadership from the community to back Forterra’s financial risk,” said Jonty Barnes, Vice President of OneBothell. “We are calling on our supporters to seek interested parties to help bring this incredibly important land preservation to fruition.  OneBothell and Forterra will still need to work with its partners to raise the funds to purchase the land for the public, but Forterra's agreement buys us the time to do that."

In addition to the Back 9, Forterra and OneBothell are pursuing a purchase agreement with the owners of the Front 9 to preserve the land in full. They are working with Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, Representative Derek Stanford, and King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, along with conservation and preservation groups, to acquire the land for future generations.